David Cameron lines up Labour's Frank Field as poverty tsar

David Cameron has lined up Frank Field, the Labour MP and former minister, to
be his "poverty tsar" as he puts the fight against deprivation at
the heart of his agenda.

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Frank Field MP, the Coalition's 'poverty tsar'Photo: DAVID ROSE

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Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive, is also understood to have been approached by the Tories about a senior Whitehall role 'scrutinising' Whitehall departmentsPhoto: HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY

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Almost two-thirds of voters support the Lib-Con coalitionPhoto: GETTY

By Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite

9:00PM BST 15 May 2010

Mr Field, a long-time champion of welfare reform, has been asked to lead a major review into levels of poverty across Britain. He is also expected to study how poverty should be measured in the future.

The appointment, which could be officially confirmed in the next few days, comes as the Prime Minister seeks to boost his coalition between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats with a number of outside figures in key roles.

Mr Cameron has asked Will Hutton, the Labour-supporting economist and former newspaper editor, to head a separate review into pay inequality.

Earlier in the year Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that if the Tories were elected no senior manager in the public sector would be able to earn more than 20 times more than the lowest-paid person in their organisation.

Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive who is now a cross-bench peer, is also understood to have been approached by the Tories about taking a senior Whitehall role responsible for "scrutinising" Whitehall departments.

News of the appointments came as an opinion poll showed a high level of public support for Mr Cameron's coalition administration – and for its key policies on tax and political reform.

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph showed that almost two-thirds of voters (64 per cent) thought that the Lib-Con coalition was the right way forward for Britain after the general election resulted in a hung parliament. It was backed by 87 per cent of those who voted Tory this month and 77 per cent of Lib Dem voters.

Overall, the Conservatives have gained one point since the election and are supported by 38 per cent of the public. The Lib Dems, by contrast, have slipped significantly, down three points to 21 per cent. Labour have gained three points to 33 per cent.

The poll also showed that 75 per cent support the new Government's tax proposals, which have seen the Conservatives make a number of concessions to the Lib Dems.

Three in four voters backed the decision to scrap a planned cut in inheritance tax and to increase capital gains tax in order to help the lowest earners escape income tax altogether – even though this will hit tax bills in middle-income households. The tax policy was backed by 88 per cent of Tories and 85 per cent of Lib Dems.

A majority of voters (56 per cent) would back a change in the voting system from the current first-past-the-post regime to the Alternative Vote system, where multiple preferences are allowed. The Conservatives have promised a referendum on this.

Almost two in three voters – 63 per cent – back fixed-term parliaments, another key coalition proposal which would end the current right of the prime minister to decide the election date.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary and one of Mr Cameron's key cabinet supporters, used an interview in The Sunday Telegraph to declare that the coalition would operate on a basis of "trust" between the Tories and the Lib Dems.

He said: "Both Conservatives and Lib Dems have found themselves on the same side in many battles, on identity cards, on the defence of free speech, there's a communality of interest there."

However, he moved swiftly to reassure the Tory grass-roots that ministers would not sell out on activists' key "red line" issues – including defence, immigration and Europe.

Mr Gove added: "We now have a Conservative Prime Minister. We're implementing the lion's share of our manifesto. We have five years when Conservatives can vanquish some of the myths that have grown up about us and show that we can govern properly in the national interest, and this is a tremendous opportunity."

Mr Cameron already faces a potential backlash both from Tory grass-roots and disappointed former shadow ministers who have not been given jobs in his government because more than 20 posts have gone to Lib Dems.

Resentment could be increased by the appointment of outsiders. A prominent government job for Mr Field also has the potential to land the Labour MP in trouble with his own party – although such an outcome is thought unlikely.

Mr Field was one of Gordon Brown's most prominent backbench critics, calling for him to step down on several occasions. A former director of the Child Poverty Action Group, he has spoken out against means-tested benefits.

He was appointed minister for welfare reform by Tony Blair after Labour came to power in 1997, with a brief to "think the unthinkable", but quit less than a year later following a series of rows both with Mr Brown and Harriet Harman, then the social security secretary.

Despite being a Labour MP, he has dubbed Margaret Thatcher a "hero" and supports the return of National Service in Britain to "instil a sense of patriotism" in young men and women as well as to tackle unemployment.

He has been the subject of many attempts to get him to defect to the Conservatives – all without success so far.

Government sources said Mr Field was expected to "work alongside" Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader who was made Work and Pensions Secretary last week.

Mr Cameron has repeatedly insisted that a government led by him would revolve around tackling poverty – a main cause of what he has claimed is Britain's "broken society."

In his speech to the Conservative Party conference last year in Manchester he accused Labour of having "failed" the poor and added: "It falls to us, the modern Conservative Party, to fight for the poorest who [Labour] have let down."

Mr Cameron has hosted talks at Chequers with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan leader, his first meeting with a foreign leader since becoming Prime Minister. Both leaders agreed they wanted to "further strengthen" relations between their countries.